Joomla or Wordpress?

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bigbyte

bigbyte

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I currently have a successful womens interest related website running on a no longer supported CMS software (Evo Articles). It's an article and tutorials or guides website with almost no dynamic features.

The site draws about 1500 unique visitors per day and is not well montized. So, I am considering a migration to either Wordpress or Joomla, but will probably need to hire someone to design a template that allows me to better monetize the website.

Since I am not familiar with Joomla - does it make sense to consider it as a platform and why or am I better off with Wordpress and a magazine style template?

Right now it is a pain to add pictures nor can I do polls. Integration of affiliate products is also a pain and I am looking for the best option from a marketer's point of view.
 


If WordPress can do what you need - use WordPress. You can use Joomla but if you're not gonna utilize all the features it has then mind as we just go with WordPress for simplicity.

It really depends on what you want to do with your site though. If you plan on expanding past the basic articles and pictures content and want more interaction with your visitors, I would go with Joomla. There's so much more community-focused extensions that allows you to do a lot of things that WordPress can't. Just take a look at Joomla! Extensions Directory
 
Good point, lpdesigner. For the beginning Joomla would definitely be overkill, but from a marketers point of view it would leave the door open for better monetization. I have not played with Joomla in a long time - is the learning curve still as difficult as 2 years ago?
 
I tried Joomla briefly and even tried to import some of my existing articles via MySQL. While still a lot of work I think the article import should be do-able in a day or 2. I use Wordpress all the time already, but agree that Joomla might leave the door open for future enhancements and growth.

As mentioned I have never really worked with Joomla. What extensions can you recommend for a standard website trying to promote affiliate products and which ones for SEO so that I can get se-friendly URLs? I found this one for Adsense, but have to check how it integrates into a template:

Joomla! Extensions Directory

Thanks.

Chris
 
from what ive been reading and research, wordpress is your choice. if you plan on doing a lot more expansion to the site, then go with joomla.
 
Wordpress is easier to use and has a massive repository of plugins. Joomla I guess technically scales better, but right now I HATE Joomla because of a recent incident involving a client's website and 404 errors on pre-existing links.
 
Wordpress definitely wins the CMS wars for most purposes (esp. small-medium niche sites). Simplicity rules..especially if you plan to make a ton of sites easily and quickly. If you plan to stick to a single site and make it big, then a careful review of the pros and cons should make it easy to decide based on your site's required features.
 
Wordpress all the way. Never even had to consider Joomla.
A little bit of a learning curve if you are new to php/cms etc, but it's seriously worth it in the long run because not only do they keep upgrading the platform, the plugin community is thriving. I only just upgraded to 2.7 and it works and looks fantastic.
 
I'd be careful using Joomla just because most of the Joomla extensions and plugins out there have security vulnerabilities.
 
Wordpress definitely if the site is article based... No brainer.. and the plug in community is extensive and easy to use.. Joomla i found non intuative and a pain in the ass.. WP was love at first post
 
As someone who has worked with both: in general, Wordpress. It's a lot more than a blogging platform, if you know how to utilize it. Joomla doesn't even come close to what is possible with Wordpress while keeping the ease, security, and flexibility.

If you want specific input about what is possible with your site, why not post it here for us to take a look.
 
So every time one of these threads comes up, the scales inevitably tilt in Wordpress's favor. Not that I disagree. But what sort of projects would you guys consider Joomla over Wordpress? And if you're working on something Wordpress isn't suited for, would you choose Drupal before you chose Joomla?
 
I went with Wordpress and it was a great move. It was easier to import my existing articles compared to Joomla and so far the search engines love the site.
 
Working with both in the past. Having a pretty successful joomla site myself I would say that Joomla is a great app once you know your way around it. In saying that wordpress appears to be quite good also. At the end of the day you have to determine whether you would call yourself a programming guru or a end user who has plenty of content that wants to make a buck with the internet.

at the end of the day I would personally choose joomla.
 
vinny lingo said:
. But what sort of projects would you guys consider Joomla over Wordpress? And if you're working on something Wordpress isn't suited for, would you choose Drupal before you chose Joomla?
Click to expand...


interested to hear people's opinion on that also. Anyone?
Seems Drupal is a great choice for an affiliate store, for example (working with something like the Affiliate Window network), way better then Wordpress. Or for a site with a lot of content and a complex layout, like a big news site or one with many contributors? Where does Joomla fit in?
 
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